Bottle crate



June 13, 1933,

E. M. PENNOCK 4 BOTTLE CRATE Filed Aug. 15, 1927 amen W91, Edward JKPamoEk Patented June 13, 1933 rmwiinnnlrnnnocxfor mmnnaromsmmnnsornj :BO'r'rtE CRATE Application meanu ust 15, 152 7. Serial no. 212,956; i

" This invention relates to an improvement in bottle crates of the typeused for milk bott les and of a similar nature.

5 adapted to protect the bottles in thew-crate against breakage and consists in providing a resilient spacer between the bottles of a nature impervious tomoisture. a It 1s also a feature of the inventionto prothe crate with the bottles is slid along the one against the other, the jar is absorbed in the crate between the bottles and thespac- 111g means and the bottles are protected When the it crates are against breakage. jammed together With the bottles in the samethe jarrauses thebottles to ride up comes this difficulty in a veryv practicalv against each a other particularly; at the base 3 andthis impact breaks the bottles in such a ninanner as to cutthe bottoms 01f Ofthe same I have foundthat my improved crate overmanner. a a a It is-alsoa feature ofmy crate towprovide a compact spacingmeans between the rows of bottles which i's' adapted tor form the necessary :resiliency to prevent the bottles from striking each other either when the the crates through the creamery and in de- Qlivery; accomplish this in one form by providing a plate formed of sheet material which is bent over and carried by the par-a tition Wires in a manner to provide a space lot thesalme. q These featuresltogether Withotheriob Will be fmore fully "and a Qolaims. y y In the drawing forming a part of this between i the sides of the same which com pensates for the necessary movement ofthe [bottles in the crate and prevents breakage Ujects and details clearly set' forth in the specification and specification Figurejl is a my crate The primary feature ofitheinvention resides 1110, means Yand end members 11 of WOOLl mthe form of slats superimposed crate A together to ,crate A. My crate A line 2--2 of Figure 1. i a A Figure 3 1s a sectional View on the line 3-'3 of F igurel,

Figure 4 in a manner to provide an outerjcasingor" body portion for the crate A..

Figure 2 is a side sectional View on-the The ends of the sides lO'and 11 are con nected together by the outer angle member r I12 and the inner angle member 13 ina manfloor of the creameryand these crates 3 am,

ner to L ri 'idly connect the corners of y the provide a strong and sturdy -construction which is adopted to standthe Wear and tear in the use of the is particularly adapted for use Withmilk bottles B and is made of a a construction adapted to Withstand the wear and rough usage that; these cratesordinarijly a: receive in creameries Where milk bottles are handled intlieseqcr'ates: It is desirableto provide a crate of a construction adaptedtd stand thewashing of the bottles while they x are held: in the crates and) the bottles are a usually turned upside down While they are being Washed. This requires a crate having the principal inner portions in a the crate made of metal orothermaterial impervious to 'water. i crates are jammed together or in handling Vnally extendingpartitions made up of the My crate A is provided with longitudi-' tween the Walls 10 and 11 These WlIG partitionstake up only a small space. in: the

crateA and at the intersection. of the wire members 15 and 16 I provide angle'lron reiniorcing spacers tvhich hold the wires partitions to give slightly and yet be firmenough to hold and providethe partitions for the bottlesB so as to separate the different bottle compartments C Within the properly spaced apartand in position in relation to each other to permit the re vide pairs of parallelly extending wire members 18 which are spaced fairly close together and these wire members form the bottoms for the crate bottle compartments C. The wires 18 are spaced close enough together so as to receive either the bottom of the bottles B or hold the top of the neck of the same resting upon the wires 18. WVhen the bottles are cleansed in the crates A they are turned upside down with the neck resting on the wires'18.

I provide the resilient spacer members 20 which are made in the form of a plate of sheet metal or other suitable material impervious to water and moisture. The resilient member 20 is formed with side walls and in the construction of the same illustrated in Figure 4 the member 20 is extending in a virtually U-shaped form over therods 16. I The lower or free ends 22 of the to extend below the bottom rods 18 21 of the memwalls 21 are adapted rods 16 and the lower or pass through the side walls ber 20 freely so that the sides 21 may be moved together to provide resiliency be-' tween the sides so that the bottom portion 23 of the bottle B may bear against the side walls 21 when it shifts in the crate A. On the righthand side of the bottle compartment C in the detail illustrated in Figure 4, I have illustrated the side walls of the resilient plate member 20 extending almost parallel, while on the lefthand side of this figure I have illustrated the outwardly. ing members 20 may be made in either form illustrated in this figure and it is obvious that the spreading of the side walls 21 as illustrated on the left side of Figure a merely gives a little more compensation and pro- Vides a spring member against the sides of the portion 23 of the bottles B in the crate.

In Figure 5 I have illustrated the compensating plate member 20 of a corrugated nature and having its ends bent around the rods 15. I have also shown this corrugated construction attached in one of the bottoms of the compartment C in Figure 2 to simply show the position of the same if it is desired to use these compensating itudinal partition rods 15. I have found that ordinarily it is not necessary to use the compensating plates 20 partitions 15, however,'they can be used in the same manner on this partition as they are used on the partition rods 16.

I have found that milk bottles, owing to their shape and nature, usually strike at the bottoms 23, one against the other, and this cuts off the bottoms so that a-large number of bottles are broken in handling the same in crates of this nature. My compensating shock absorbing means extending over a 'p rtmn o the Partitiensat a pei itwhers side walls 21 flaring These resilient or compensat plates on the longon the longitudinal.

the shock is directed on the bottoms entirely overcomes this undesirable feature.

The compensation provided by the resilient plate member 20 for the bottoms of the bottles B is obtained in the spacing of the walls 21 of the same apart so that when the crate A is full of bottles the jar of the bottles against the partition wallsis absorbed by the members 20 and the bottle bottoms 23 are prevented from striking together in a manner to out oh" the same when the crates are jammed together as very often occurs in handling bottles of this nature in creameries. v The compensators 20 also tend to hold the bottles steady and yet they are not of a nature to take a large space in the crate. Thus I provide a means of protecting the bottles in a crate having substantially wire-like partitions of a narrow, thin nature. I have found this feature of my invention to be very important in a practical crate of this nature.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described'the principles of operation of my particular construction of bottle crate and while I have illustrated a certain formation and assembly of the parts, I desire to have it understood that this is only illustrative and that the invention may be carried out by other means and applied to uses other than those above set forth within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A bottle crate comprising side walls, a series of longitudinal and transverse wire members adapted 'to form partition walls, and thin, sheet plate-like members each extending slidably over a plurality of said wire members between the corners of said partitionsadapted to form a compensating 'means in the partition walls of said crate,

said plate-like members extending more than half the width of said partitions.

2. A crate including, a series of partition walls, compensating members carried loosely by said partition walls between the corners of the partitions to protect a portion of the members carried in said crate against striking one against the other and to absorb the shock, each compensating member extending more than half the width of said partitions, and means to prevent excessive pivoting of said compensating members.

3. Abottle crate including, side walls, a.

series of intersecting partition walls, each of said partition walls formed of a series of superimposed wire members, and U-shaped spacer members looped over the wire member adjacent the bottom and extending below the bottom wire member of said series to space apart bottles in said crate.

A bottle crate including, side walls, a series of intersecting partition walls, each of said partition walls comprising superinr posed paralle'lly extending members, Us

shaped spacer members looped over some of said parallelly extending members, sides on said spacers converging apart away from the bend of said spacers, said spacers ex-' a tending below the next lower parallel member toprevent excess pivoting thereof.

5. A bottle crate including, side walls, a series of intersecting partition walls, each of said partition walls comprising superimposed parallelly extending a members, U-

shaped spacer members looped over some of said parallel members, said spacers extending more than half the width of the partitions formed by said walls. a i

6. A crate including, aseries of partition walls formed of a number of parallelly extending spaced members, compensating members each looped over a plurality of said spaced members, and corrugated walls on said compensating members.

7 A crate including, a series of partition members each formed of a number of parallelly extending spaced members, compensating members each looped over a plurality of said spaced members, and horizontally corrugated sides on said compensating mem bers.

I 8. A spacer for bottle crate partitions i11- cluding, a thin sheet member formed substantially U-shaped adapted to be looped over a crate partition member, and corrugations in sald sheet member. EDWARD M. PENNOCK. 

